Al Mn Ll, fl. 


ADDRESSES 











ONW: 


BY 





» DR: JOHN H. FURMAN, 





SUMTER, S. C. 


AGRICULTURAL SUBJECTS! 


—— et ee — 


CHARLESTON, 8S. C:: 
EH, Perry & Co., Printers, BooKSELLERS AND STATIONERS, 
No 149 Meeting Street, Opposite Charleston Hotel. 
. 1885. 

















RD Te PS 


ADDRESSES 


Ve EA ild Voice, ss 
AGRICULTURAL SUBJECTS 


Ys Yoder. 


DR. JOHN H. FURMAN, 


c- 
OF 


SUMTER, S. C. 


CHARLESTON, S. C:: 
E. Perry & Co., Prinrers, BooksELLERS AND STATIONERS, 
No. 149 Meeting Street, Opposite Charleston Hotel, 
1885. 





ee 


4 


THE FLOWERS COLLECTION 


ADDRESS 


DELIVERED BY REQUEST IN 1861, 
TO THE 


Mrivateer Agricultural Club, 
SUMTER AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION, 
IN 1885, 

BY, JOHN HH. tiie M. D., 





Gentlemen of the Privateer Agricultural Club : 

The task assigned me of addressing you on this the anniver- 
sary of our Club, covers so great and varied an area, that I feel 
almost at a loss where to begin. It was the request of your 
committee that I should discuss the subject of Agriculture, a 
subject at once both vast and interesting, any one of the least 
important departments of which would more than give scope 
to my feeble abilities. 

Agriculture! an art coeval with the history of man; for ere 
yet the decree had gone forth, “in the sweat of thy face shalt 
thou eat bread,” the pleasing task was assigned him of tending 
the beauteous plants of Paradise. 

For a long succession of ages Agriculture consisted of a mere 
rude series of mechanical operations, though executed, it is 
true, by some of the nations of antiquity with considerable 
skill and judgment; or it has existed as an Art empirically 
exercised, until within the last half century, the lights of a 
more advanced science have been shed upon it, and Chemistry, 
Physiology and Geology, have contributed largely to it, both 
negatively and positively—dispelling many doubts and errors 
of theory and practice, making apparent and establishing 
truths of inestimable value, which had been but vaguely guessed 
at, or were entirely unknown. Itis still regarded by many as a 
merely mechanical pursuit to be worked out by the rule of 
thumb, the highest assigned reason for adhering to any favorite 
plan being “my father did so before me, and as he lived by it 
so may I.” 


d 


Tt is much to be regretted that agriculturists as a class, are 
so wedded to routine, and hostile to the adoption of anything 
without the pale of, or conflicting with, their own practice. 
'Tis true, aversion to change is but one of the manifestations of 
a conservative spirit, and is thus far good; over-indulged, how- 
ever, it shuts out the avenues of light, denies the benefits of 
progressive improvement, and, though not incompatible with 
energy, industry and activity, still, as with the wheel simply 
revolving on its axis, though there be much motion, there is no 
progression. Far be it from me to esteem lightly the hard- 
earned experience of our predecessors; but while adhering to 
whatever has been bequeathed us, which an enlightened expe- 
rience demonstrates as good, we should ever be alive to the 
improvements of the age—ready to lay aside exploded systems 
and adopt the deductions of science, simplified and enforced, 
by practical tests, 

Viewing it as a science, we should have to discuss many of 
the leading principles of chemistry, in investigating the compo- 
sition and properties of soils, manures, animal and vegetable 
substances ; of Geology, in inquiring into the nature of rocks, 
and the origin of soils, of Physiology, in considering the im- 
portance of the various organs of plants and animals, in pro- 
moting their growth, nutrition, &c., and the varied and won- 
derful influences of the agencies, heat, light, electricity and 
vitality, a due consideration of any one of which would fully 
occupy all the time it is now proposed to devote to the con- 
sideration of some of the practical and every day operations 
of the plantation, more essential to immediate success and its 
finalimprovement; and they will only be incidentally referred 
to as occasion may require. 

It is therefore to it rather as an art—that is the skillful appli- 
cation of science to the cultivation of the soil, whereby with the 
least labor the largest returns may be obtained, while a gradual 
improvement of the land is accomplished, that your attention will 
now be directed, 

Southern Agriculture is peculiar: Taking one year to illus- 
trate this, we find, to accomplish a marked success, it is neces- 
sary not only to occupy each season faithfully with its round 
of duties, but every month and week must be fully employed, 
with a view to the ultimate result. It forms a peculiar round, 
every link in the chain being necessary to the perfection of the 


se 





5 


whole. With other peopleslabor is more paroxysmal; therefore, 
the hireling system answers; with us, compulsory labor is 
essentially necessary (and also for the present time, whether 
as slave, contract or hired labor, otherwise the risk is too great 
for practical men to undertake it). To plow up the land, sow 
and reap, may be accomplished by the occasional hiring of an 
adequate force; but the cultivation of that mighty staple, the 
king of commerce, cotton, is quite another matter; not only 
diligence in preparing the land, and the utmost care in planting 
and tending the young plants, but continued care and toil in 
judiciously cultivating, up to maturity, when the scarcely less 
arduous business of harvesting and preparing for market com- 
mences, giving full occupation to the entire force, until the next 
year’s round of duties begins. 

To accomplish this successfully we must estimate our per- 
manent force, and the probabilities of the season, and prepare 
only so much land as this force can do justice to, keeping it 
diligently and constantly occupied throughout the year. * * 

England has heretofore only demonstrated by her mighty 
efforts to produce the cotton her factories require, that free 
labor is not the thing, and all the unparallelled toils of her inde 
fatigable explorer, Livingston, in search of a soil and climate 
adapted to it, must only result in disappointment, unless she 
first forces into bondage the stolid savages that people those 
mighty wilds. France quietly looks on and sneeringly remarks 
that England need not expect to grow cotton, for she nowhere 
has the soil and climate suited to it, but that she (France,) has 
them in Algeria. Vain self-gratulation! They have both to 
learn that not only must a suitable soil and climate be found, 

but that to make cotton, they must first make bondsmen (temporary 
or permanent). 

There are two points in which our practice of Agriculture is 
lamentably deficient—these are winter preparation and modes 
of plowing. With many it is customary to allow the spring to 
be far advanced, or at least, the winter to be pretty well 
spent, ere the process of preparation begins—indeed, this is 
merged in that of cultivation; and the corn is growing ere the 
land is broken up, and the cotton is up on part of the planta- 
tion ere the earth has been fitted for its reception on the bal- 
ance. We have too long been following in the footsteps of our 
fathers, A change of circumstances inyolves a necessity for a 


6 


change of modes. Our fathers cultivated a virgin soil, when 
the superficial and skinning process (though ultimately de- 
structive,) gave large immediate returns. We have to a large 
extent exhausted and denuded fields to contend with, and to 
obtain present support from them, and accomplish their ultimate 
improvement, it becomes necessary to bring to our aid modes, 
appliances and means, they never dreamed of. 

What do we plow for? This may seem a trite question. But 
it opens a wide field for inquiry, observation and reflection. 
What do we plow for, and how and when should we do it? 

We plow to pulverize the earth, whereby the delicate hair, 
like roots of plants, may ramify and extend in every direction, 
thereby obtaining ample pasturage to feed upon. And here the 
advantages of deep plowing will at once be apparent. The man 
who breaks his land eight inches deep, gives his plants twice the 
pasturage that he does who breaks but four, and he who pene- 
trates twelve, trebles the sources of supply. 

We plow to let in the air and sun, that we may secure the 
fertilizing properties of the one, and the vivifying and amelio- 
rating action of the other, and we should plow deep in order 
that these beneficial influences may be extended to a greater 
area of root pasturage. The air contains ammonia and carbonic 
acid, both highly essential to the growth of vegetation. They 
are rapidly, and in quantities absorbed by porous bodies, while a 
compact body appropriates little or none of them; therefore, by 
thorough and deep comminution of the soil, we greatly increase 
the amount of these bodies taken up and held, by the land, for 
the wants of the future plant. These bodies also act benefi- 
cially upon the organic and inorganic constituents of the soil, 
rendering them soluble, and putting them in a fit condition to 
be taken up and assimilated by the plant. We plow deep in 
order that these benefits may be extended toa large bulk of soil. 

We plow deep in order that our lands may be saved from 
washing, and that the rain water may not run off, carrying 
with it its fertilizing properties, as well as those of the soil it 
leaches. Rain water as well as the atmosphere, abounds in 
carbonic acid and ammonia, and by enabling it freely to pene- 
trate the earth, we secure these valuable ingredients. 

We plow deep in order to turn under trash, weeds, grass and 
the seeds of noxious plants. By running deep we increase the 
depth of our soil and bury these seeds so far from the influence 


ral 


7 


of air, heat and light, that comparatively few germinate, and 
those that do, come up slowly—in a sickly condition, and are 
easily destroyed, thereby greatly lessening the labor of cultiva- 
tion. 

By plowing deep we not only turn under and give compara- 
tive rest to the surface soil—which has so long been drawn 
upon—but bring up a sub-surface, which has, perhaps, never 
been disturbed by the plow, into which the roots of cultivated 
plants have penetrated but little, and which contains much of 
what has been drained from the surface soil. In soils as 
sandy and light as are most of those in our vicinity, the high 
winds of March and April carry off quantities of the light sur- 
face, thereby rapidly exhausting the land of humus, which is 
its life-blood. By deep winter plowing, we turn up a compara- 
tively valueless surface, which if blown off, is a small loss, as 
there is an inexhaustible quantity left. And here I would draw 
a distinction between the plowing of preparation and that of 
cultivation. The one belongs to Winter, and should be deep ; the 
other to Spring and Summer, and should be shallow. 

If deep plowing possesses the advantages already hinted at, 
how necessarily important that it should be accomplished as 
early in the winter as practicable, that the benefits of the winter 
rains (and frosts in farther pulverizing the land,) may be se- 
cured, that the air may have as long a time as possible to circu- 
late through its bulk, that the trash, weeds and grass may 
have time to ferment and decay, and that the moisture that 
arises freely from the subsoil, in seasons of drought, by capil- 
lary attraction (when the land has been well broken), bringing 
with it the soluble elements of inorganic fertility from far 
below the surface, and depositing them there as it evaporates, 
may also contribute its benefits. 

A somewhat successful planter of an adjoining State once 
remarked to me, that though considered a deep plower, in his 
neighborhood, he did not think that he broke his land toa 
greater average depth than from two and half to three inches. 
He realized large profits when his lands were fresh, for they 
were good; but the yield has been rapidly falling off, and he 
now scarcely clears expenses. Mr. Dickson of the same State, 
. and of an adjoining county, cultivates comparatively poor lands, 
much of them worn when he began. He plows deep ; his lands 
are annually improved, and his profits augmenting enormously. 


. 8 

It is true that the word, deep plowing, is altogether eompar- 
ative. What would be deep with us would be considered 
shallow by the turners up of the almost fathomless alluvial 
deposits of the West. What might be deemed shallow here, 
would be considered no plowing at all there. The character of 
the soil and subsoil must, to a great extent, regulate it. 

When the surface is thin and deficient in vegetable matter, 
and the subsoil of an inferior quality, we must begin with com- 
paratively shallow plowing—gradually increasing in depth as — 
we add to the quantity of humus, and the other elements of 
fertility in the land. When the soil is comparatively good and 
the subsoil not greatly inferior to it, we should not hesitate at 
once to penetrate to a considerable depth. In the land which 
surrounds us, I would begin with from seven to ten inches— 
gradually increasing to from ten to twelve. Even this is ob- 
jected to, on the ground, that too much poor earth is brought 
to the surface—an objection which can only apply to those ex- 
ceptional cases, where the subsoil abounds in mineral matter, 
injurious to plant life—is composed of coarse marine sand, or 
stiff pipe-clay. Inhospitable fields! well calculated to disap- 
point the most industrious and persevering in the successful 
enactment of any system of cultivation. 

If the scratching process be pardonable anywhere, it seems 
to me to be upon such uninviting fields. 

Having finished the preparation of our lands, and planted 
our crops, we begin more fully to realize the advantages of deep 
winter plowing. The severe labor of the plantation haying 
been accomplished during the cool short days of winter, our 
animals have now comparatively light work to do, for instead 
of drawing long and narrow plows, to break the ground, all 
that is required is a horse-hoe, which, while it penetrates but 
little, shaves an extended surface. And here I would pay a 
tribute to that inimitable plow, the Dickson Sweep, perfected 
by the great pioneer pine land planter, David Dickson, of Han- 
cock County, Georgia. A plow which, while it penetrates but 
from one-half to one inch, cleans beautifully a furrow, from 
eighteen to twenty-six inches in width, according to the size of 
the plow. 

Let us suppose we have a field thoroughly broken up to the 
depth of eight or ten inches for corn, say in January. When the 
season for planting comes, we lay off our rows with an ordinary 





9 >. 

shovel seven feet apart, following with a shovel twelve inches 
wide and fourteen long, opening a furrow at least ten inches deep 
and twelve wide. Into this furrow we drop our corn three feet 
apart, one grain to the hill, the distance being regulated by a 
forked stick, held in the left hand. Hands following, deposit the 
manure from four to six inches from the corn. Then follows a 
double bull-tongue plow, or two-toothed harrow, covering to the 
depth of from one and a half to two inches; the top of the ridge 
covering the corn, is thus some eight inches below the level of 
the field; our corn must then remain undisturbed, until it has 
attained considerable size, being surrounded by mellow earth 
on all’sides—the seed of weeds and grass deeply buried and 
coming up slowly, and there being no necessity for thinning, 
we only run our sweeps when we deem it proper to break the 
light crust which is formed, and shave off what little grass may 
have made its appearance, before it attains any size. We do 
this by running the twenty-twoinch Dickson Corn Sweep around 
the corn, to the depth of one inch. This throws sufficient 
earth into the trench, about the corn, to cover up any grass or 
weeds that may have come up there; thus doing away with 
the necessity for hoeing. Four furrows with this plow, will 
beautifully clean out the seven foot alley. This we repeat 
when the time for the next plowing comes round, planting our 
peas in a shovel furrow, in the middle of the alley, thus giving 
ample distance, and securing a full crop of peas. One furrow 
run subsequently between the corn and peas, with the twenty- 
six inch corn sweep, is generally sufficient; thus laying by the 
crop, perfectly level, in beautiful order, accomplishing the work- 
ing of it, with astonishing ease, the animals travelling rapidly, 
seemingly more worried by the mellowness of the earth beneath 
them, than the weight of the plow behind. And here, apart 
from the great amount of land which may be tended, and the 
comparative ease with which it is done, there is another most 
important fact to be considered ; it is, that during the entire 
cultivation of the crop, if properly done, we have never broken 
the roots of the corn, a fact which will tell when harvesting time 
comes—and more especially if there has been a visitation of 
drought.  * * * * * * * * 

Gentlemen, we plow our corn too much—did we prepare our 
lands better and cultivate shallower, we should hear less of the 
destructive effects of drought. It would be better for us, and 
far better for our animals. 


10 


» 

The objection urged to deep winter preparation and shallow 
cultivation, that the lands run together and become too hard 
for the vigorous growth of vegetation, will be found not to 
apply to lands broken properly, and to the right depth, or only 
to those low spots where the water accumulates in large quan- 
tities, after heavy rains; or in soils where clay largely predomi- 
nates. 

It would be interesting to discuss the advantages of thorough 
preparation and shallow cultivation, as applicable to the cotton 
crop also, did time admit. The principles however, are the 
same, 

There are various matters of peculiar interest to which I can 
barely allude. Among these the horizontalizing our cotton 
rows, wherever the land is rolling, thus keeping the water from 
sudden summer rains, upon our land, and preserving the vege- 
table mould and finer particles of soil it would otherwise take 
away with it—the level culture of our corn, by which a less 
surface is exposed to our scorching summer's sun, and the rain 
water is allowed to penetrate equally, instead of being thrown 
by steep beds, into the middle of the alley—a judicious resort 
to ditching and under-draining, by which the injurious aceu-. 
mulation of water in low spots souring the land, and poisoning 
the plants grown there, may be removed, and the land pre- 
pared for the benefits of deep plowing, and the production of 
early and healthy vegetation, instead of the dwarfed and sickly 
productions usually seen upon such localities. And prominent 
among these is the practice of rotation and resting. The objec- 
tion is frequently urged, that we have too much open land, 
This is false, or possessed of force only so far as it might act as 
an inducement to the attempted cultivation of more than can 
be done justice to. By having a surplus of open land, we can- 
not only manure and rotate, but we can rest, which for the im- 
provement of our land is all important. With us the rotation 
may be cotton, corn, rest—or cotton, corn, small grain or peas, 
and rest. 

Its advantages are manifest; we know that corn does well 
after cotton; it is supposed both these have been manured, 
which prepares the land to some extent, if worn, for giving a 
remunerative return in small grain. This again leaves the 
land in the right state, for the growth of grass furnishing pas- 
' turage, and the following year a coat of weeds to be turned in, 


11 ” 


for the good of the land, and the cotton crop succeeding. We 
thus obtain a supply of humus so necessary to the growth of 
cotton. There are few lands so far exhausted as not to be able 
to bring a crop of weeds—particularly if manured, for the 
cotton and corn grown previous to rest. In lands compara- 
tively fresh, we obtain a heavy crop. We all know how much 
better cotton grows after rest, and this is peculiarly the case 
when concentrated fertilizers are used. Our lands are deficient 
in clay; vegetable matter to a considerable extent, supplies its 
place. Guano will not pay without a due proportion of it in 
the soil, and especially is this the case, on our light lands where 
the proportion should be large. By rest and the growth of 
weeds we get this supply, which can in no other way be ob- 
tained, without an immense expenditure of time and labor, in 
hauling; while it in no way interferes with the prepara- 
tion and use of our domestic ammonio-humifereous manures. 

In carrying out the system which I have faintly sketched, 
we break our land broadcast to the depth designed, every time 
it is prepared for corn, in regular rotation, penetrating a little 
deeper each time, until we have attained the full depth to which 
we may deem it proper to have our land thoroughly pulverized, 
For this purpose I consider no plow equal to the Allen turning 
plow, as made by the Messrs. Culver, of Hancock County, 
Georgia. 

Turnip growing, and the cultivation of the grasses, are 
matters of far greater moment to us as an agricultural people, 
than is gencrally supposed; and especially is this the case with 
the latter. 

It is frequently objected that our climate is not suited to 
grass-growing. Did you ever reflect that a large portion of our 
time is employed in contending with this, the greatest enemy 
of the cotton plant ? and that a planter frequently congratu- 
lates himself if he has barely succeeded in rescuing his crop 
from its ravages? and he is proud indeed, if he has gained a 
complete victory over the renowned “General Green.” Many, 
unfortunately, find themselves in the predicament of the poor 
Frenchman, who inquired of a Louisiana planter, “you got 
any de ting calle crab-be grass? he teck hold my cout-ton, he 
say, you shan-no grow.” How absurd then to say, we cannot 
grow grass. The truth is, there are varieties suited to both 
our uplands and lowlands, which would amply repay us for 


12 


their cultivation. There are untold acres of land lying idle, 
which might, in this way, be made to contribute much towards 
maintaining the plantation, as well as building up the cultivated 
lands, This matter is at the foundation of all success in stock- 
raising. We are surrounded by swamps, which are, so to 
speak, the reservoirs of the fertility of the uplands, where it has 
been accumulating for ages. They are now idle—nay, nuisances. 
By setting them in suitable grasses, they would become depots, 
whence our stock would bring us bountiful supplies of rich 
milk, nutritious flesh, valuable wool, and quantities of rich 
manure to be deposited in our lots, giving to the otherwise 
inert compost, energy and power. 

We have a soil and climate admirably suited to fruit growing. 
A wide belt of poor piney woods country, extending through 
this and sister States, ill-suited to corn and cotton, which will, 
with a little care and attention, produce the choicest fruits, 
both of summer and winter varieties—grapes that would orna- 
ment any table, and wines equal to the best imported from 
foreign soils, at enormous cost. Why then should they be idle? 

The gathering, composting and preserving manures of do- 
mestic origin, as well as judicious selecting, combining and 
adapting to our various soils the numerous commercial fertili- 
zers, embraces so much ground, and is of so great importance, 
that I trust that some gentlemen of more enlarged experience 
than myself, will make it the exclusive subject of discussion at 
some future meeting. This subject yields to none in import- 
ance; for there is no system of plowing or culture, however 
perfect in itself, which will enable the plant to find in an ex- 
hausted soil what is necessary to its vigorous growth. We 
must first supply this. We have the sources of an inexhausti- 
ble supply around us. Our forests abound in vegetable matter ; 
our swamps will supply any quantity of muck, not only valu- 
able in itself, but a most admirable addition to ammoniacal 
manures, and a truly valuable absorbent of the liquid manure 
of our stables, lots, cow and pig pens. The scraping of fence 
corners, and all low spots where vegetable mould accumulates. 
In fact, all refuse vegetable and animal matter should be care- 
fully preserved and made to contribute in restoring to the land 
its lost humus. All the ashes made upon the place should be 
carefully garnered up, for in them we have a rich supply of the 
inorganic elements of plant food, 


13 


It is a reproach upon us, and a clear demonstration of the 
suicidal character of the system of agriculture, that has been 
pursued, that the once fertile, virgin soil, over a large extent of 
our naturally blessed land, has been reduced almost to a state 
of barrenness; and this, too, in spite of the fact, that all the 
means, domestic and commercial necessary, not only to keep 
them in their original state but to improve them continually, 
are within our command. The truth is, we have been too much 
blessed. 

The abundance of fresh lands, lead to that feeling of security, 
growing out of a consciousness of large resources to be drawn 
upon, which, in its turn, begot an indifference to, and a contempt 
of all the means necessary to keeping up and improving the 
soil. But a few decades back, it was usual to speak dispar- 
agingly of the man who, becoming alive to the necessities of the 
future, and prompted by a love for the old homestead, under- 
took by the slow process of manuring to build up his lands, as 
well as his fortunes—as one not properly alive to the true 
interests of himself and family. The true policy among accu- 
mulators of fortunes, (and thence spreading to the mass of the 
tillers of the soil,) being deemed to consist in the rapid clearing 
up of lands—the carrying out of a superficial system of culti- 
vation, by which their cream might be rapidly skimmed, (the 
larger portion of it, however, washing into the creeks and rivers, 
and thence into the ocean), and then as soon as they showed 
symptoms of exhaustion, and the grass began to contend for 
the mastery, the pulling up of stakes, and seeking a fresh field, 
where the same destructive process might be repeated. <A 
policy and practice, the ruinous effects of which have told 
fearfully upon our once beautiful country—almost unparallelled 
in the exuberance of its native fertility. 

Travel over the red hills of portions of our own State and of 
middle Georgia :—behold field after field, once covered with 
nature’s richest verdure, now barely producing a partial cover- 
ing of dwarfed pines and stunted broom-sedge, insufficient to 
hide their unsightly gullies or conceal the general aspect of 
naked sterility—and ask yourself whence all this? The 
answer is: These are but some of the evil fruits of a bad sys- 
tem, based upon an overweening regard to present gains, ignor- 
ing the claims of posterity, and reducing our noble calling to a 
merely mechanical pursuit, destructively exercised, 2 


14 


The idea that a fruitful source of the exhaustion of our lands, 
is to be found in the fact that they are largely oceupied in pro- 
ducing a staple which is exported and thus lost to the land, will 
be found not to be tenable. The lint which alone we export, 
is composed almost entirely of carbon, is formed from the 
elements of air and water, and takes comparatively nothing from 
the soil. The seed abound in the phosphates and potash—these 
we return to the soil. The fault is not in cotton, but in the 
modes of its production. Gentlemen, the double task devolves 
upon us of repairing the mischief which has been done, and of 
inaugurating a system which shall accomplish different results. 

We must look these facts boldly in the face and meet them 
as men, or we are derelict in duty to ourselves, and to those 
who shall come after us. 

We must first master the true principles of our art, then 
thoroughly familiarize ourselves with all the details of the 
most correct and approved modes of their practical application. 
We must discard a blind adherence to false modes, simply 
because we are familiar with their application, and because a 
change involves the necessity for study, care and additional 
expense, in providing the necessary means and implements. 

By all means provide good tools and a plenty of them—seeing 
that there is a place for everything, and everything in its place. 

We should take great pains in instructing our operatives, 
that they may, as far as possible, comprehend the more evident 
principles, as well as the reasons for the various modes of their 
application. This has the happiest effect upon them, for, unless 
of the lowest order, they at once take an interest and pride in 
their work, feeling that the higher attributes of their nature are 
being exercised, and that they are no longer doing the work of 
mere automata. Rest assured, that the man who pursues this 
course with his servants, will accomplish far more work, and have 
it better done, than he who works them as mere machines. 

Thus starting with correct principles—adopting and master- 
ing the most approved modes—carrying them out with energy, 
availing ourselves of the most perfect appliances and best 
means of ourart, and adapting to and using liberally, on our 
lands, all the available materials of renovation and improve- 
ment, and being actuated by laudable motives, success must 
ultimately crown our efforts. We may then combine advanta- 
geously the intensive and extensive systems, That is, thoroughly 


15 
preparing our land, and judiciously manuring, we may cultivate 
largely, and with the blessings of Providence, expect to reap a 
bounteous harvest. 

Gentlemen, it becomes us as agriculturalists, with enlarged 
views of the dignity and importance of our pursuit, to labor 
not only for the accomplishment of present gains, but for all 
time. Modes and appliances are but temporary, and subject to 
change, with the various circumstances calling for their exer- 
cise ; principles are eternal and of universal application. 

Let us, realizing fully the responsibilities of our noble avoca- 
tion, and being sure of the correctness of the principles which 
actuate us, labor for its advancement and elevation, discarding 
all merely temporary considerations, let us ever be alive to the 
claims of posterity and the good of our beloved country, now 
struggling to establish her young independence. or rest 
assured that, however brilliant and glorious may be her achieve- 
ments on the battle-field, and however necessary these may be 
to her present success—and however deep and great the debt of 
gratitude she may owe her gallant sons, (the sons of Agricul- 
turalists), now battling in her defense—a debt, which I feel 
assured will ever be acknowledged with pride and alacrity— 
it must be to the honesty, the intelligence, the energy, the patriotism 
and the success of her agriculturists, rather than the glory of her 
arms, that she is to look for the ultimate position she must take in 
the scale of nations. 





” 





ADDRESS 
DR. JOHN H. FURMAN, Prestpent, 


SUMLER AGRICULiURAL ASSOCIATION, 


ON SATURDAY, APRIL 131x, 1885. 


Brother Farmers : 

We hear on every hand that the agricultural interests of our 
country are in a state of decadence; that the farmer is growing 
poorer and poorer every day and year. Is this so? and if so, 
why? Take the ocean, remove its waters drop by drop, and if 
no drops supply their place, the time will come when it must 
be dry. So with your land year after year; plant crop after 
crop upon it, that will draw away its life’s blood, and give it 
nothing in return, no food, or but astingy or insufficient supply, 
and it will grow sick and weary, impoverished and sterile, and 
in return for your labor, will give you but a puny growth of 
plants which can bring no profit with them. This will be the 
result under your own individual management; how will it be 
if your land be rented? Now, by way of example, take say 
thirty acres of good land, rent .it to some one who feels no 
interest in its permanent improvement ; his idea being to get 
the most out of the land, with, to himself, the least possible 
outlay of labor and manure. It is plowed badly, cultivated 
worse, in fact wrethedly butchered, and that often when the soil is 
saturated with water; barely manure enough is used to make 
the plants hungry, not enough to give them any permanent 
supply of food, so that they soon have to fall back upon the 
land for their supply, and being forthe time larger and stronger 
and hungrier than they otherwise would be, they make only 
the greater drafts upon the same. 

Ah! that is the way your land is spoiled, by being half ma- 
nured; and your miserable promiscuous renting finishes the 
work, The land being good however, enough is made to give 


18 

you a reasonable rental and him a subsistence, with possibly a 
small surplus, if he has kept clear of the lien. Soon however, 
the land begins to fail, and he demands a reduetion of the 
rental; you object, and he moves off to work out the same de- 
structive results elsewhere. Another takes his place, and soon 
falls hopelessly behind, whereupon a reduction of the rental 
must be made or perhaps you get nothing, and so it 
goes on to the bitter end—the impoverishment of your land. 
And if this be true of thirty acres, it will equally apply to 
thirty or three hundred thousand acres. This is your capital, 
perhaps, your all; if it is impoverished, do not you also grow 
poor? And again, if it requires economy, energy and per- 
sistent effort with a man who strictly adheres to the cash sys- 
tem to support his family in comfort, and lay by anything at 
all, how must it be with those who once standing upon the 
same plane with him, have become entangled in the meshes of 
the wretched, so-called credit system of the day. I refer to 
the (lying) lien law, in all its extent, application and its miser- 
able results. How can they meet an additional outgo of twenty- 
five to one hundred per cent., without growing poorer and 
poorer, until they reach the ultimate extreme of utter impov- 
erishment. 

And gentlemen, it is not only a ruinous system of credit, 
but it ruins and farther degrades our labor; and whether it be 
good, bad or indifferent, it is our labor, and all we are going to 
get I tell you. And gentlemen, I love the negro; he is a jovial, 
kindly, harmless fellow, more sinned against than sinning. 
Who, I would ask you, at least you and I, old men of ante- 
bellum times, who frolicked with us in childhood’s happy days, 
but the negro? Who heightened our pleasures and our sports, 
by his presence and his sympathy, in boyhood’s joyous days, 
the haleyon days of bondage—but the negro. Who! stood 
by our wives and children, when in manhood’s prime, war's 
behests tore us from them, but the negro. And who now 
stands ready to serve us, if only something like equal-handed 
justice is meted out to him, but the negro. And whenever 
large rascality is perpetrated, dig deep, and you will find, nine 
times out of ten, a white man at the bottom of it. And whose 
strong and willing arms, under the direction of Caucasian intel- 
lect, placed cotton on the throne she now occupies and keeps 
her there, but the negroes. Then at least strive todo justice to 


19 


him, for he is your ward—your negro. God gave him to you, 
then keep him and beware of your responsibilities. And you 
who cannot or will not control and direct him justly, have 
nothing do with him, fer to you he will prove only “ vanity and 
vexation of spirit;’? then go at something else. Wise men 
make the best of their surroundings, and as they can, improve 
them, but they seldom revolutionize. God made them (I mean 
our negroes,) for this purpose—I mean for service to a superior 
race. His laws are supreme, and the man who would contra- 
vene themisa fool. And this very labor it perverts. If I can 
take a negro fellow and make him produce eight bales of cotton 
and the lien tolls him (ignis fatuus like,) to some worn-out old 
old field, and he makes but two—a most liberal allowance in the 
circumstances—then unquestionably are six bales lost to the 
commonwealth ; for the wealth of individual citizens, makes 
the wealth of the State. And what is true of one may apply 
to twenty thousand or to any number. And it isa shame upon 
us as men, as farmers and as humanitarians, that this ruinous 
law should remain in force, which allows, encourages and almost 
compels the grinding of the poor and ignorant, whether white 
or black ; that puts it in the power of any false Jew, rash and 
inconsiderate Irishman, or renegade American, (I mean this 
only for those who feel in their hearts, if they ~have any, that 
it will apply to them,) to take your poor fellow-citizens by the 
throat and jugulate them. Understand me not gentlemen, as 
decrying that people whose history is a marvel, running back 
and illuminating as it does the dimmest annals of the past, and 
who in modern times haye given us a Judah P. Benjamin, and 
England a Disraeli. And also I would speak of the gallant, 
rollicking, high-souled Irishman. Oh! that he had not linked 
his name with dynamite! But in behalf of my own people, I 
have nothing to offer. ; 

They, its friends, say it isa good credit system, and neces- 
sary to the poor farmers. Was the word good ever so de- 
garded? Ifa poor man comes to you and says, “neighbor, 
I want to buy your ox;” and you say to yourself, “ Well, I 
know he is poor, but then he is honest ;’ then comes into 
your mind the lien, and you say, “stop, my friend, are you 
under a lien?” he tells you “yes ;”’ yousay, “how much?” he 
tells, and you say, “why that is likely to be all you will make ;” 
and the poor fellow in desperation says, “Oh! but you see, [ 


20 


hope it will rain this year and that I will make a good crop, for 
you know, I work, hard;” but how say you, if it should be dry 
again ? and being an honest man, he says not a word; and you 
being moved by the bowels of compassion say, (what few in 
the circumstances would say,) “ well, I will lend him to you, or 
I will give him to you, but I can’t sell him to you, forif I should, 
the lien might disappoint me, and make hard feelings.” 

This is a good credit system which shuts out all other credit 
from the poor man, except its atrocious self! How under 
Heaven is it possible for a poor man, (and it makes all alike 
poor with scarcely one exception, who come within its upas-like 
influence,) when it takes all that one can make, buying at cash 
prices to carry on his operations, support his family in comfort, 
educate his children and lay by a little something for a rainy 
day (or old age), when the lien piles on twenty-five, fifty, 
seventy-five, one hundred and sometimes even two hundred per 
cent.; how, I ask, is it possible for the poor man to live, and be 
an honest man ? ; 

And here comes the hardest nut of all to crack, It is de- 
grading our people, (sad fact,) it has already degraded too many. 
This I know, for I have seen it, lo! these many years, and felt its 
dire influence too. Gentlemen, need I say more ? 

They say, there is some good in it. The devil himself does 
some good, for he stirs up good men to fight against evil, and 
by the power of contrast, shows the beauty of holiness. 

Gentlemen, I have no taste for polities; I have oft-times cove- 
nanted with myself that I would have nothing to do with them. 
Still, asa practical man, I know that though their almost necessary 
accompaniments and associations are repugnant to a high-toned 
and sensitive nature, they are a necessary evil, and as such we 
must subordinate them as far as possible, to the accomplishment 
ef good, instead of evil. 

They say if the lien law is abolished mortgages will take its 
place. This at least has been claimed by brilliant young limbs 
of the law, while on their rounds, seeking legislative laurels 
wherewith to deck their classic brows. 

But gentlemen, have you seen many or any for considerable 
amount, which were not backed up by mortgages ? 

And gentlemen, there is one more thing that I will barely 
allude to, (for I have not the time fully to discuss it,) and that 
is the Land Loan Associations, Is it right? is it wise, that you 


21 


should mortgage your land for one-fourth or one-fifth its real 
yalue, when at the end of five years the mortgage may be fore- 
closed, and they may gobble up or sell to others for one-fourth 
or one-fifth its value, all that you have, and leave you as naked 
as a well-picked goose? No, gentlemen, let us first crush the 
head of the cockatrice, and then look after its brood. We are 
no extremists. Reduce it so that it can only reach the bare 
necessities of life, (corn and bacon,) with a heavy penalty for 
transgressing, and with proper notification at the next session, 
abolish it finally ; and see that you send no one to legislate who 
will not do his very best, and who has not courage, eloquence 
and skill to back up his convictions, to the accomplishment of 
its abolition. 

And gentlemen, I trust that you and I have too little taste 
for politics proper, to allow us to introduce them into this Asso- 
ciation; while our pledges and relations with it compel us to 
exclude them. And it is only where we have to consider prin- 
ciples and systems, which bear upon them immediately or re- 
motely, that we are compelled to apply the plumb line and 
investigate to the bottom, until we are satisfied that they either 
bear disastrously upon, or uphold the great cause which we 
profess to advocate, and to suggest what outside of the same, 
may remove influences which we know or believe as practical 
men, stand in its way, that I have been induced as a practical 
man to utter these strictures upon the lien law. And if we old 
men have to fight for the rights—the salvation of the young ones. 
I too, have boys to follow me, and for one stand ready to do my 
duty, even though the sponge with which I wipe out evil, has 
to be wet in my life’s blood, so help me God. And that life may 
be taken from us by means other than the bayonet, the bullet 
or the stab of the assassin. 

Hard and unremitting toil, even in the cause of humanity, of 
mind and body, day and night, hot and cold, wind and rain, 
possibly combined with cruel aspersions and unjust insinua- 
tions, may do their work, with high strung and sensitive natures, 
when the others may fail, and then may God have mercy upon 
the guilty offenders. 

And is it right that a law should be framed by superior intel- 
lect, which so operates as to develop, encourage and foster bad 
traits in an inferior race, which are inherent to that race? It 
fosters indolence, thriftlessness, and a disregard to the future, 


22 


If to-day cannot carry its burdens, how can to-morrow carry 
its, with to-day’s piled upon them. But I need not make the 
application further. 

And though it may open the way to benefactions by making 
the benefactor secure, while exercising the same, it carries too 
much temptation with it; for, while wise men resist temptation, 
wiser men still, flee from it. 

It negatives one of the greatest benefactions of slavery, which 
brought an inferior race under the influence of a superior, 
giving the inferior all the untold benefits of contact with the 
same. The lien reverses all this for it encourages them, the 
takers thereof, to squat off in settlements to themselves, where 
they rapidly revert to their original state of barbaric fetichism. 

Brother farmers, it is painful to talk of these things ; but the 
surgeon who refuses to use the scalpel, when disease makes its 
use necessary, is not worthy of the title he bears. Understand 
me, I do not object to a judicious tenantry system, where re- 
quirements are enforced, by which the land is left better each 
year. But that miserable practice of promiscuous renting, 
which leaves the land, the land-holder and the so-called tenant, 
poorer every year; it is against this miserable practice that I 
have raised my voice since its very commencement. 

And now gentlemen, as to our purposes. We do not propose 
taking the offensive, but we do propose acting alertly on the 
defensive; we propose, if not already a guild, then that we 
shall (in this Association), make ourselves one. Those organi- 
zations without a soul, but with an insatiate maw, and a pitiless 
purpose, those and all of that ilk, we propose defending our- 
selves against, and if necessary, to the dragging of them beneath 
the guillotine, and the chopping off their hydra heads. We 
need not say gentlemen, that we mean cruel monopolies and 
unrighteous legislative enactments, which have become so-called 
laws to the eternal disgrace of our statute books. 

And now for another picture: A young man has decided to 
make farming his profession, to give it his best thought and en- 
deavor, for he loves his calling; he says, “ my land is to feed me, 
and I must therefore feed my land;”’ he does the best he can by 
all he cultivates, taking care that he does not undertake more than 
he can doample justice to; he decidedly inclines to the intensive 
system ; he says, “I will take two acres to begin with and test 
it to the best of my ability ; I vill first look to the physical 


23 


condition of these acres, removing all stumps or other obstruc- 
tions, and draining if required; then breaking and pulverizing 
thoroughly to the depth of say, eight inches, to begin with ; 
and if I reach hard pan, (which he will be very apt to do, if the 
land bas been long cultivated, and never broken to like depth 
before,) I will put in the subsoiler (the ‘Monitor’ being the 
best we know of); he has prepared his compost heap with 
abundant vegetable matter, and due proportions of nitrogen, 
phosphate and potash (Farish Carter Furman has told what to 
do here); this is spread broadcast, at the rate of three to five 
thousand pounds of the mixture to each acre, and teen plowed 
in as he carefully prepares his beds; then plants and cultivates 
as shallow as possible, using the David Dickson sweep—the 
implement best adapted to meet the requirements of our agri- 
culture in its present stage of advancement—for with it, if 
properly used, there is very little need of hoeing. 

His plants have now a deep and mellow bed, full of food, 
where they can find ample root pasturage, and they are com- 
paratively independent ofdrought. Theseed from these two acres 
he adds to the compost pile the following year, and applies to the 
same area. Next year he adds two more acres to be treated in a 
like manner, and so on from year to year, till in ten years he has 
twenty acres, from which he may almost certainly calculate to 
gather from forty to sixty bales of cotton, according to the sea- 
sons. Andallthistime his capital has been increasing, for hisland 
has been rapidly growing in value, and he rising in the estima- 
tion of his brother farmers. 

Gentlemen, this is no dream; it is what our young men who 
have strong arms and stout hearts, with patience and indomi- 
table will, can accomplish. It requires but little capital to begin 
with or carry to its ultimate results. 

Oh! that I could teach you the value of little things, of per- 
sistence in all the undertakings of life. Way out yonder in the 
East beholda mighty mountain! Remove its grains of sand one 
by one, and the time must and will come, when the last grain 
of all will be removed; the only requirements being time and 
persistent labor, and where it once stood we know not, for there 
behold a broad and level plain; but way out yonder in the West 
stands the mighty mountain, for it has been all removed. 

And gentlemen, have you evergthought of the great blessings 
*you enjoy? -A genial climate, which would be almost perfect but 


24 


for its sudden transitions ; every means of inter-commiunication ; 
roads that with very little labor and ingenuity might be made 
turnpikes almost without expense, and railroads which con- 
nect so far as almost to make “antipodes next door neighbors;” 
and then a soil which, though not the richest, yet with quali- 
ties unsurpassed by any on earth. With a root-bed deep and 
mellow, and with a generous nature that will return a hun- 
dred fold for the plant food you put into it. The better lands 
of the upper country, have a richer surface, but the subsoil is 
stiff and hard, and their owners have to be continually fighting 
against the tendency in them to run away down the creeks and 
rivers, and thence into the ocean, while yours are level—the 
crowning good of all—and will keep whatever surplus you put 
in them. 

Then all you need is qualities within yourselves; patience, 
energy, economy and persistent labor, and determination to 
learn only from those who know best how, and what, to teach 
you. You have already almost too much “ individuality,” but 
you do not like the trouble of thinking for yourselyes; your 
pride keeps you from bowing to others, though your indolenee 
compels you to follow.them. Observe closely at one of our 
meetings, and when a division is called, you will see men, many 
I am sorry to say, who will half rise from their seats, thenlook 
around to see how the majority is going to decide before they 
take their final action Look into your own heads and hearts, 
then keep your seats, or stand up like men. 

Gentlemen, only do your duty, using faithfully the means 
that a good God has placed within your reach, and you will 
make old Sumter a new and glorious Eden. She will indeed 
become the Mecea for all agricultural wanderers, seeking after 
truth and a resting place. 

But we must return to the thread of our story, A like mode 
of procedure directed for cotton, modified to suit other crops, 
will bring similar results. But I can only suggest, forthe scope 
of our Association properly considered, is wide and yet definite, 
All the economies of the farm, all that will make its expenses 
less and its profits greater, all that will tend to the elevation 
and advancement of the farmer himself, that will make his home 
more attractive and his family happier, that will relieve his 
wife and daughters of the hardydrudgery through which many 
of them have to pass, and enable them to cultivate the higher * 
instincts of their pure and loving nature. 


25 


Ah, woman! pure, gentle, loving and unselfish woman. What 
were man without thee, but a “world without a sun.” Oh! 
fairest of creation, last and best of all God’s works, creature in 
whom excels whatever can to thought or sight be formed; holy, 
divine, lovely, innocent or fair. Old Master tried no “ prentice 
hand” on her, for she was and is, the perfect work of a perfect 
Architect. 

And its province reaches all those influences that will cluster 
the affections of our boys, as they grow up to be our young 
men, around the old homestead ; that will give employment to 
their energies and their intellects, keeping the best elements of 
our population, to agricultural pursuits. If our Association 
aids materially in bringing about such results, then indeed will 
it find a warm place in the hearts of our people; then indeed, 
will it deserve that place. 

As the wealth of individual citizens makes the wealth of the 
State, so must our old commonwealth grow weak or strong as 
her agriculturists languish or prosper; for they constitute by 
far, the largest element of her best population. Make the indi- 
vidual farmer strong, prosperous and happy; then indeed, will 
she grow strong. Then will our dear old State, gathering her 
robes about her and having placed back upon her fair brow, by 
her gallant sons—the sons of agriculturists—much of the in- 
alienable crown State Sovereignty, stand forth upon the bill- 
tops of deliverance, a glorious personification of Liberty! 





(From the Augusta Chronicle and Constitutionalist, of April 19.) 


AGRICULTURE IN SOUTH CAROLINA. 
TWO NOTABLE ADDRESSES 


—BY— 
Dr, JOHN H, FURMAN, 
OF SUMTER, §, C. 


(SuMTER CORRESPONDENCE. ) 


It is the characteristic feature of truth that it is always fresh 
and always applicable. 

Erroneous views on any subject have but an evanescent 
existence; they take no hold upon the minds of men, passing 
rapidly into oblivion. But truth strikes its roots deep, and 
flourishes like an evergreen. 

This thought occurred to me in reading the addresses de- 
livered by Dr. Furman, at the recent meeting of the “Agricul- 
tural Association” of this county. The first address was read 
before a farmers’ club, twenty-four years ago. At that time 
the war had just commenced; slavery was in existence, and the 
“New South” wasunknown. Yet, the views therein expressed 
are as applicable to the present time as if the essay was written 
in this year of grace. 

The necessity of thorough cultivation, the system called 
“intensive,” made famous by Farish Furman, was not only 
urgently advised in this treatise, now a quarter of a century 
old, but was therein actually spoken of by its now world-wide 
name. 

In fact, some of the inspiration which made Farish Furman 
the leading spirit of the “New South,’ was drawn from the 
precept and example of his father, during the palmy days of 
the Old South. 

Again, in speaking of the advantage to be gained by intelli- 
gence in the laborer, listen to what Dr. Furman said, even 
when our farm hands were our own slaves: 


28 


“We should take great pains in instructing our operatives, 
that they may, as far as possible, comprehend the more evident. 
principles, as well as the reasons for the various modes of their 
application. This has the happiest effect upon them, for, unless 
of the lowest order, they at once take an interest and pride in 
their work, feeling that the higher attributes of their nature 
are being exercised, and that they are no longer doing the work of 
mere automata. Rest assured that the man who pursues this 
course with his servants will accomplish far more work, and 
have it better done, than he who works them as mere machines.” 

No wonder that the master who could thus think and act, 
has to this day some of the same laborers on his farm that he 
had before “freedom came,” and with their intelligence and 
instructed culture, raises crops which pay him and his freed- 
men handsomely, while others starve! 

In speaking of the future of the South, the essayist said 
(in 1861): 

“Tt must be to the honesty, the intelligence, the energy, 
the patriotism and the success of her agriculturalists, rather 
than to the glory of her arms, that she is to look for the ultimate 
position she must take in the scale of nations.” 

Are not these words almost prophetic? Where would the 
South now be were it not that the battle, lost in the field of 
arms, is being redeemed and recovered in the field of labor? 

So it is throughout the address. On the subjects of preparing 
the soil, use of fertilizers, improved agricultural implements, 
cultivation of grasses, rotation of crops, raising fruits and 
grapes, and many others, the essay abounds in wise, thought- 
ful and practical advice. 

The second essay, read by Dr. Furman, before the Agrieul- 
tural Association, dealt with the present and its difficulties. 
Though abounding in good advice and useful suggestions on 
many subjects, the address was devoted largely to the lien law. 

Dr. Furman believes that the negro is the best agricultural 
laborer for the South; but he also maintains that any system 
which wholly deprives the negro of the supervising eye of the 
white man, is injurious alike to the laborer and to the soil. 

The lien law, by furnishing the laborer with the means of 
cultivating, in a very indifferent manner, any patch of inferior 
land, releases him from the guidance of better intelligence. 

He argues that where the liener may make two bales of cot- 


29 


ton by his own methods, he could, with the aid of better 
information and judgment, produce eight bales, thus a loss of six 
bales is the consequence of the laborer’s so-called independence, 
But this is not the only, nor the worst evil result. The enor- 
mous profits charged upon advances made by liens, plunges the 
laborer into a helpless condition of debt, increasing yearly, 
until ruin overtakes him at last. 

The lien system he contends is demoralizing in the extreme, 
tending to the lowering of character on all hands. 

For the negro himself the Doctor entertains the kindest 
feelings. He says “I love the negro! He is a jovial, kindly, 
harmless fellow, more sinned against than sinning. 

“Who, I would ask you, at least you old men of ante-bellum 
times, who frolicked with us in childhood’s happy days—but 
the negro? 

“Who stood by our wives and children when in manhood’s 
prime the behests of war tore us from them, but the negro? 

“And who stands now ready to serve us, if only something 
like equal justice is meted out to him, but the negro? 

“Whenever large rascality is perpetrated, dig deep and you 
will find (nine times out of ten) a white man at the bottom of it. 

“ Whose strong willing arms, under the direction of Caucasian 
intellect, placed cotton on the throne she now occupies and 
keeps her there, but the negro’s? 

“God gave him to you as a ward; then keep him, and beware 
of your responsibilities.” 

Dr. Furman urged upon the farmers the necessity of the 
liberal use of fertilizers. He argued that land was spoiled by 
being half manured. He said that plants are only made hun- 
gry by light manuring, and making unnatural drafts upon the 
soil for a supply of food, thus impoverishing the land itself. 

Dr. Furman opposed the “Land Loan Associations,” which, 
he argued, may, at the end of a few years, gobble up the lands 
of the poor and leave them “naked.” 

The Doctor insisted upon the intensive system, as taught by 
his distinguished son, Farish Furman, and warned farmers 
against undertaking more than they could accomplish. 

He eulogized the South and showed how energy and industry 
were sure to bring comfort and wealth in the end. 

After paying a beautiful tribute to woman, the address con- 
cluded with the following words: “Make the individual 


30" 





farmer strong, prosperous and happy, then i 
commonwealth grow strong. Then will our: 
gathering her robes about her, and having p! 
her fair brow (by her gallant sons, the sons of 
much of the inalienable crown, State sovers 
upon the hill tops of deliverance, a lieiaae 
liberty,” 


PARTING ADDRESS 
DR. JOHN H. FURMAN, 


ON RESIGNING THE POSITION OF MASTER OF CALVARY GRANGE, 


CLARENDON COUNTY, 8. C, IN £885. /f IS- 
q 


Patrons: 


The time has arrived for me to resign my office to my suc- 
cessor, and it may not be inappropriate for me to give utterance 
to a few parting words. 

Indeed this is sanctioned by the usage of our order. 

It is now three years since you honored me ‘with the res- 
ponsible and trying position of Master of Calvary Grange. 

The leading duty I assigned myself in this connection, was 
the building up of the Grange, hoping with its accomplishment 
that some brother would be found to occupy my place, fully 
competent to guide her on her onward career of usefulness. 

How far this has been accomplished, remains for others to 
say. And here, pausing, let us take a hurried retrospect. 

Three years ago Calvary Grange was organized, with fair 
prospects for a goodly future. Has that future been attained? 
And if not, why? Her growth for a time was rapid. Numbers 
flocked in, and enthusiasm appeared to animate all. Then 
gradually came coldness, inattention and neglect. The causes 
for this were various. False anticipations with some, antici- 
pations which could not be realized, because they were 
impracticable. A want of constancy and fixedness of purpose 
with others. With others again, that quality which causes the 
chaff to move before the wind, when only the grain is left behind. 
And with some the force of circumstances. And unfortunately, 
the old Adam crept into the Grange, and heart burnings, dis- 
affection and alienation came. 

Then in our efforts to build our Hall and make it comfort- 
able, the regular income not being sufficient, too frequent calls, 
perhaps, were made upon the liberality of some, and they 


32: 


cooled and drew off. And largely is it due to the fact, that 
in organizations where concert of action is essential to success, 
there is a want of appreciation of the fact, that, after all, 
everything depends on individual effort. Without faith, energy, 
zeal and constancy in the individual member, there can be no 
success in the Grange as a whole. 

With some, the Grange is considered a something which has 
and independent existence ; which has a personality, as it were; 
thinking and acting for itself, and therefore held responsible 
for success or failure. A mistake indeed. For, instead of this, 
it is only a representation, as it were, by aggregation, of those 
who compose it. If they be true and noble, so will be the 
Grange. If they be false and venal, so also will the Grange 
manifest these traits. Indeed /t is just what we, its officers and 
members, make it. I opposed the idea, which prevailed outside 
the order, where it was frequeutly said (I fear in no kindly 
spirit) that it was a thing of but temporary existence. That 
however good, appropriate and even necessary it might be, our 
people had not the stability, sagacity and fixedness of purpose 
to make it a permanent success. I hoped otherwise, and have 
striven to prove that that hope had a foundation in reason and 
fact. 

Patrons, will you allow these evil prognostications to be 
fulfilled? Will you allow Calvary Grange to stand as a monu- 
ment of your fickleness, your want of sagacity, your want, in 
short, of those characteristics, without which there can be no 
true manhood? Oh! let it not be thus! Arouse yourselves, 
and putting down forever those ever to be dreaded character- 
istics, see to it that you inspire others with that respect for 
our noble order which is ‘ts due, while at the same time you 
keep untarnished, that which is of far more importance, your 
own self respect. 

This brings us to the present. Here we are, with the 
materials for a noble grange, in a cold and almost inanimate 
state. Patrons! this must not be. Let us arouse ourselves, 
and taking a new departure, make Calvary Grange, what she 
ought to be, an ornament to our order, 

I am happy to inform you, that she is now in a sound con- 
dition, financially, though it is to be regretted that there is 
delinquency among individual members. »We now have surplus 
funds, which can be used for the advancement of her prosperity, 


33 


and I shall bring forward resolutions, in due time, which I trust 
will aid in inaugurating a new era in her usefulness. Patrons! 
the capacities of the Grange for’ good are vast. I have not 
resisted the desire of my many friends to continue its leader, 
because I have lost faith in its excellence, or because it was in 
a languishing condition, but because 1 felt it would be for the 
best, that a temporary change at least, should be made, and 
because it was due to me that it should be made. 

Patrons! I have striven to be a faithful Master; and if 
there is any word in the English language which I detest. 
and for which I would have no place in my vocabulary, that 
word is failure. I cannot brook it. Death, disaster, insur- 
mountable obstacles may come, but tell me not of failure. 
And I could not consent that Calvary Grange should languish 
in my keeping. I felt that for a time at least, I could do more 
towards warding off this disaster, as a private member, than 
as your Master. Then achange will kindle afresh the zeal of our 
newly elected officers. I think we haveseensome evidences of this 
already. Patrons! let us see to it, that the hands of our young 
and inexperienced Master are held up. Let us give him all the 
aid and encouragement that we can, in the responsible and trying 
position upon which he has entered. I at least will promise, to 
the extent of my ability, to aid him, and prove as faithful to 
him as the future representative of the Grange, as he has been 
to me, as such, in the past. 

_ Patrons! I see nothing to prevent Calvary Grange going on 
prospering and to prosper, if we but do our duty as men and 
patrons. Without this nothing can make it a success. 

I felt, Patrons, when I took that solemn obligation, which 
you have all heard to-day, that I was bound as a Patron and a 
man, to allow no trivial cause to stand between me and my 
duty to the Grange. But there was one thing which I could 
not do, and that was to occupy the Master’s chair, and at the 
same time, those of other officers. Could I have done this, but 
once in three long years would they have been vacant. 

Think of the teachings of the Grange. They are noble. 
They reach us morally, socially, intellectually, pecuniarily. 
I do not think many of us realize fully, either what it can do, 
or has done. It teaches us fraternity; it teaches us an enlarged 
charity. For, while on the one hand, it guards us against a 
grinding and usurious spirit towards our debtors, it as directly 


3+ 


inculcates, on the other, that we shall fully render unto others, 
that which is their just due. Indeed it teaches us to honor 
God and love our neighbor, which being fulfilled, is all of the 
law and the prophets. 

Look at the green and flourishing oat fields throughout the 
pale of Calvary Grange. They are largely due to Grange 
influence; but there is no time for me to particularize. 

Asa whole the Grange is a grand success. It has grown 
and spread from ocean to ocean, until now the name of Patron 
is recognized and honored from the Atlantie to the Pacific, 
from the frozen St. Lawrence to the Rio Grande. 

Most of the grander operations of nature are worked out by 
slow and imperceptible progress, and where the work of 
animal life, by the aggregation of individual effort. Look at 
the labors: of the tiny polyp. The individual is so insignificant 
as to be almost invisible to the naked eye; yet the aggregation 
of its labors gives us vast coral reefs, beauteous isles of the 
ocean, and the foundations of mighty continents. And it is 
thus with the Grange. 

Patrons! I cannot trust myself to say all I feel, but I will 
conclude by declaring, that in Calvary Grange we have the 
intellect, the energy, I trust the patriotism, and I know the 
virtue and beauty, to make her what she ought to be, and if we 
but do our duty, what she shall be, the Banner Grange of Old 
South Carolina. 








